** What’s tough for this Pitt fan, and I assume any Pitt fan, is how to view or frame a season such as this to gain any enjoyment at all.
** What is success? Is it improvement? Is it achieving somewhere above already low expectations? Is it watching a few of our better players mature and demonstrate real talent for the future?
** Unfortunately, in present day college basketball, it’s almost hard seeing good players on a bad team growing and achieving, knowing that they may just be auditioning for greener pastures.
** A wise Pitt Hoops fan once wrote on these message boards that the goal of any team should be to become the best team they can be. I’ve since then always subscribed to that mantra, even if it’s hard like it is with this squad to create a picture in one’s mind just what that would look like.
** I’m sure there are plenty of Pitt fans who would submit that success this year can actually be defined by the team grabbing the least possible level of success, thinking this will hasten the exit of the man in charge. While I can understand the logic in such a belief, I just can’t go into a season hoping for the Panthers to lose. At least not three games in.
** All of this to say that I’m glad the Panthers won tonight. But I can’t say that I really enjoyed it. Especially the second half.
** In his post game show, HC Jeff Capel said his team was going to need to have to win ugly this year. Well, if that’s the case, then mission accomplished I guess. However, I don’t think barely holding off a sub 250 Pomeroy ranked team is the kind of ugly is what any coach can be looking for.
** In fact, I don’t think this was winning ugly. It was more like winning ineptly, even there’s even such a thing.
** Perhaps that’s a little bit too harsh. There was some decent defense for many stretches during the game, particularly in the final minutes. And Big John was a rock on the glass. So was Will for stretches when he seemed to soar in for rebounds. Generally speaking, we kept dribblers in front of us, and communicated and switched, at least enough to get the job done even if this was a poor opponent.
** My concern with the defense though is that we don’t really look to force turnovers, nor push opponents to make mistakes. We are just playing straight up per se, and when your offense can’t score, eventually an opponent is going to catch up, even a bad one like the Seahawks.
** So of course, I could go on and on about our offensive ineptitude. There’s a long list of problems. At the top of the list, it’s not even just that we can’t shoot the ball from three. It’s that we don’t even shoot the ball from three.
** Watching the Panthers play offense made me wonder just want that game plan is. Maybe sometimes it’s to dump the ball to Big John and have him look for cutters. That worked a little in the first half, and John is a decent enough passer.
** But that was cut off in the second half after two quick buckets, and that left almost no way for the Panthers to score. Our last basket came at the 8:40 mark, and that was after a scramble following an offensive rebound. It was only one of 7 second half baskets. And not one of those was a jump shot. That’s kind of scary really.
** It also can’t be said that the Panthers passed up many jump shots. They really don’t get any.
** I’m wondering why just about every team in college basketball (or the pros, or even high school for that matter) can get the drive and pass for the open three corner fairly easily, but this does not even seem to be a strategy we employ.
** Knowing that we have one decent outside shooter in Nate Santos, who seems somewhat skilled at moving without the ball, why aren’t we running anything to get him shots? Nate didn’t get a single jump shot today.
** Regardless, whether it’s from poor design or poor execution, there isn’t a team above an eight grade level who can be the best team they can be when only shooting four three point shots in a game. It’s become far too an important part of the game.
** Going further, our guards and wings shot just two threes, while the other two were from our center, one of which was really ill advised.
** We know we just don’t have the skill to become anywhere close to being an even decent three point shooting team. But is 4-14 in a game too much to ask?
** Mr. Burton was a welcome addition to the fray today, and he played pretty well considering it was his first action. He seems like he has a head for the game, so hopefully he’ll work to improve this horrible deficit in the Panther offense.
** Three days from now, he’d better be because the way we played tonight on offense just might not be enough to garner a win against a like Towson who is at least a little better than UNCW.
** Through these words tonight, I can’t say I’ve come anywhere close to determining any worthwhile way to frame this season, let alone enjoy it. So I’ll settle for us getting a little better on Friday, watching a team that actually seems to have a better plan on offense.
** Even if we play with a better plan, there’s the huge question of whether or not we have anywhere near the skill to pull it off. But it would be a start.
